The Mountain Route
by emmaisblue
Summary: Lance is a personal messenger to the palace and Princess Allura, and one day stumbles into someone named Keith who won't tell him anything about why he's been living in that cave for a year.
1. Chapter 1

**A/N: Hey guys. Sorry this chapter is super short, I'll probably make the next one longer. But who knows? Not me, that's for sure. Enjoy, leave a review, I'll tweak stuff for the better with your thoughts. Love.**

* * *

 _A lonely sparrow_

 _Singing in the gray oak trees_

 _Where is the sun now?_

* * *

Where is the sun now? Lance didn't know.

It was his usual route. Some other suitor was writing love letters to princess Allura again, and as usual it was up to him to deliver the mushy letters. Besides, Allura would grow to love her dashing and beautifully loyal personal messenger. Lance inhaled the mountain air and sighed, smiling. He glanced fondly behind him at his city, walled and gorgeous, Tornlov, quaint houses and winding streets, all like a welcome mat for the palace, on top of the hill at the back of the city, almost lounging above the city, like a deceptively lazy cat with a sharp eye.

Lance wasn't too far from the city yet, and he shifted his small pack over to his other shoulder, carefully. Inside it, lovingly surrounded by a box that was wrapped in fabric, was princess Allura's rejection letter. Lance shook his head a little. Poor prince wasn't going to know what hit him. He caught a glimpse of some gray clouds on the horizon and walked a little faster.

Slowly, the foothills he was walking through were taken over by rock outcroppings, some huge, some barely coming up past his knees. Soon after that, Lance was walking through what felt like stone walls, cracked and soaring and oppressive. The sun's light was shunted sideways as Lance walked through it. The path narrowed and dropped off at the right, where a river winded through the canyon below. Lance moved more towards the canyon wall, watching his footing. He hated walking through this part of the canyon, but at the same time, thrill as well as fear coursed through him, a feeling he could… kind of… enjoy.

The small sunlight there was worming its way down into the canyon was cut off. Clouds were being blown in by the east wind, Eurus. They gray storm clouds that he'd seen earlier now were sealing the blue sky out like a coffin lid. Lance cursed his luck. The mountain range was treacherous enough as it was. The lengths he went through for Allura's perfect robin eyes.

The wind picked up and Lance's cap flew off and soared into the air above him and was whisked out of sight. "Oh, come on!" he yelled at nothing. He clutched the letter tighter. Or, to be clear, he clutched his pack tighter which had the letter inside it. Cursing, he sniffed and searched for maybe an outcropping or something he could hole up in for the passing of the storm. Or, even better, some lights that would let him know a village was nearby. Instead, all he got were the rains blowing at him like the sandstorms that would sweep up entire caravans from the south.

Lance muttered to himself. "Stupid… prince… Allura's too fine… for her own… good…" Thunder clapped overhead, colliding with every one of his ribs. He broke into a run, never mind the narrow path and the now-roaring river Lance stumbled a little, fighting the wind. He ducked his head, which spared his eyes, but now all he could see was the ground. There was no way he'd be able to go on while the weather was like this.

Lance struggled to stand upright, looking back and forth for some kind of shelter. His eyes narrowed. There was a clearing nearby, and across that, there was what looked like a couple big boulders that might offer something.

Lightning flashed, and Lance decided to stop deliberating. He sprinted across the clearing, trying to push the horrible, pulsating image in his head of him being struck by lightning just as he was about to reach the boulders. He was so absorbed in trying not to get hit by lightning he almost hit the first boulder. Immediately he darted into the small space where the boulder he'd almost collided with leaned against another. He sighed and leaned against the rock, then realized, with a jolt of joy, that there was a small cave entrance about-human sized behind him, which would be way better than still being cold and wet, because the boulders didn't completely block rainfall, even if he was out of the wind.

He wriggled into the cave opening and shivered gratefully. It was cold from the wind, but it was dry. Thunder boomed and he could see red spots in his vision so he took a breath and headed into the cave a bit further, spurred on by each ear-shattering roar and what sounded like water rushing, but that really shouldn't have happened, unless landslides were nearby. The walls seemed smooth, but there was no way it should've been. Maybe he'd stumbled into an old mine. He grabbed some matches from his bag and lit one on the wall, connecting it to his walking stick.

"Oh…" immediately he took a couple steps back. He'd walked into a cavern, complete with a spring. That would've been fine on its own, but someone was clearly still living there. There was an indentation in the cave wall that'd been carved into a bunk, and clothes along with some pots and pans lined one of the walls. A small spring, probably from an underground lake far, far beneath where he was, bubbled merrily next to him. Beside it were some rags and a wooden bucket, unmistakable signs of life. But for any place to settle down, this seemed a bit much. The cavern could've easily fit a barn and maybe a little shed on the side to spare.

Lance walked over to the bed. "Who… would want to live in here?"

"Someone hungry for a little bit of privacy."

"Holy crow!" Lance whipped around and almost dropped his torch. The voice was coming from a bit of darkness where his torch light didn't reach. "Sorry, uh, you. I didn't know you…"

"But you're still here." The person stepped into the light. Lance frowned. He didn't look like a hermit. He couldn't have been more than a year older than he was, and he didn't have a long scraggly beard that was traditional for reclusive mountain men that maids told stories of to scare children into behaving.

"Look, I'm really sorry I interrupted your… brooding but there's a storm out. Is it alright if I just… wait it out in here? You don't have to engage in conversation with me or anything like that."

The mountain man without a beard gave him a long, searching look. Lance fought the urge to cover himself with his arms to protect him from the stranger's oddly piercing eyes. Like a snake. Or a dragon, or a lion. The stranger shrugged. His worn cloak needed washing and his dark hair definitely needed a trim.

"The name's Lance, by the way. Official messenger to Princess Allura of… well, you know. Companion to current crown prince Takashi Shirogane."

The stranger just looked blank. "Well, I'm Keith. Of… no place in particular, I suppose."

Lance smiled. "How could you not have heard of Princess Allura?"

Keith looked at his hands. "Haven't left the cave in awhile, I guess."

"Oh yeah," Lance said. He looked around. "Why do you stay in here?"

"Like I said," said Keith, his voice making it clear Lance was dangerously close to personal boundaries. "Privacy."

Lance backed off. For the next couple hours, it seemed, they only made small talk. Keith was still a stranger.

Lance checked his pocket watch. "Storm should be at least letting up by now. I'll leave you to your privacy."

Keith looked almost as relieved as Lance felt. "I'll see you out then."

Outside the cave, it was like a huge weight had been taken off his chest. Lance breathed in the scent after rain, smiling lungful by lungful. "Oh, look! The sun's going down. Keith-" he turned. Keith was gone. Lance looked back at the sunset over the distant ocean, golden and perfect, and wondered why Keith would miss being back in the cold, damp cavern with beauty like this outside.


	2. Chapter 2

**A/N: This one's a bit longer. Next one comes soon. Leave a review, favorite, follow, whatever. Means a lot you're even looking at this. Hi, stranger.**

* * *

 _A golden viewpoint_

 _A tapestry of color_

 _Why stay in the dark?_

* * *

Lance had passed Keith's cave again with Allura's snarky reply, (handed to him by her right-hand-man Coran) and was sent on his way again. He was lucky to even see the princess on some days. But he could content himself with the mosaics, sculptures, and paintings of her. They didn't do her justice, but they were enough.

The sun was shining again, so there was no need for Lance to look for the cave. But he did, still. Now that he knew Keith was living in there, it was impossible to ignore. He caught a glimpse of it and headed straight for the entrance. He stuck his head in and yelled. "KEITH! IT'S LANCE!"

Almost immediately he saw Keith coming towards the entrance. "What? Lance? Why are you here?"

Lance tried not to look hurt. "I could use the company heading over to whatever loser Allura's about to destroy's village. I'm actually not a huge fan of being alone, if you can believe it."

Keith looked unimpressed. "Some of us _are,_ though."

Lance pursed his lips. "Well, you should really be getting out more anyway.

Keith stared at him liked he'd dropped from the sky. "Okay. If it'll make you stop bothering me."

For the next month, Lance turned it into a competition with himself. Some days Keith would come with him almost to the village gate. Other days he'd refuse to leave the cave. Lance tried to bribe him with new clothes, fresh food, and who just wouldn't want to spend time with Lancey Lance? Keith was growing on him. Like a fungus or a mold, but slightly less unfriendly now.

Lance was never able to find Keith if he was riding during the night. He'd take a horse, usually, instead of just walking during the day, because that was a little more safe so he was less likely to get stood up by robbers that waited for unwary travellers behind rock formations and under bushes. Most of the time, if he rode during the night, he'd just skip looking for Keith anyway. There wasn't much room for chatter when Lance had to constantly keep a small sword at his belt half-out of its sheath to scare any potential thieves.

But during the day, without fail, Lance would get bored and try to chase his gray away. He'd sing to himself, he'd kick rocks, he'd skip down the path and whistle. But it wasn't the same as having someone to walk beside him.

Plus, secretly, Lance felt a little bad for Keith. He lived alone, and just the idea of that drove fear down Lance's spine. No one deserved solitude… or in Keith's case, it was more of solitary confinement. He'd definitely placed physical and emotional walls around himself.

Keith wasn't much of a talker, but that was okay. Lance was just happy to have someone to talk to. Keith would just walk silently beside him, a net for all of Lance's words to fall onto. Occasionally he nodded and sometimes he made some noise of assent, like an "mhmm" or a "yes, sure" but he wouldn't engage. That was okay too, Lance supposed. After all, if Keith hated it so much then he would say something about it, wouldn't he?

One spring day where there was a bit of a drizzle but it was still pleasant, Keith had agreed to walk with Lance for only a few minutes before spinning around without warning and walking back up the bath to his cave. Lance wasn't sure what went wrong. They'd been alright, hadn't they?

Their conversations had become a weird and mostly one-sided dance, where Lance led and tried his best not to step on Keith's toes and Keith followed silently, without enthusiasm. Every opportunity Lance gave Keith to flaunt, to do _anything_ Keith would just give him a look and Lance would do his best to recover from the brief moment of awkward where he allowed himself to believe that Keith would take the mic.

So far, he never has.

That spring day, Lance had just been asking Keith what he did to eat. Sure, he got water from the spring in the cave, but what about sustenance? How long had Keith gone without a home-cooked meal? Keith was just explaining how he would strip berries from bushes and kill the occasional deer, and then the sun, which had been slowly and surely dipping towards the horizon, passed behind a large cloud and the sky went dark. Then Keith pivoted on his heel and left without another word. The next time Lance saw him, Keith acted like it had never happened. Maybe he would do it again at some point.

Or maybe he wouldn't. Lance didn't know.

After the spring rains faded and the days grew longer and longer, keith would agree to walk with him more. Where there was almost always a solid and knife-wielding refusal, now there was nodding and shrugging, which Lance infinitely preferred to having to apologize while the blade gave his throat a free shave.

The first few days of warmth after the spring passed uneventfully. Lance spent almost two days in the palace, flirting with Allura's handmaid and wondering what Keith was up to. Once, when he had to deliver an official summons for some prince to Allura's diplomatic dinner party, he found Keith outside the cave instead of in the dampest bit of it Lance never wanted to step into.

"Hey," Lance said, trying to hide his surprise. Keith was maybe a yard from his cave, leaning against a boulder, but it was still a pretty enormous change. His skin looked a little less sallow, and his hair was a little less messy.

"Hello," said Keith. Lance didn't really know what to say after that. He kicked a pebble on the ground.

"Up for coming with me to the lovely province of…" Lance checked the address. "Ochleia?"

Keith sighed. "If I go with you, will you stop pestering me and leave me alone?"

Lance considered this. "Probably not."

"If I go with you, will you take a different route sometimes?"

"Why would I? This one's the fastest. Plus, I get to annoy you."

"If I go with you, can you promise I won't regret it like every _other_ time I ever see you?"

"You've been regretting our trips?"

"You didn't know?"

Lance clenched his fists. "Look, Keith, I'm just trying to be decent to you. Not everyone treats hermits like you as nicely as I do, okay?"

Keith stopped leaning and stood up straight. "I don't need your charity. And I'm not a hermit."

"You live alone, in the wilderness, in a cave, away from any village, you have no job…" Lance listed the characteristics on his fingers. With each one, the top of Keith's ears got a little bit redder and his scowl deepened until Lance thought Keith's face would concave. Keith looked for a second as though he might actually throw something at Lance, the ducked his head.

"How am I going to get rid of you?"

Ouch. That hurt a little bit. Lance prided himself on his ability to pester, but it still stung a little when people looked at him with no humor and told him they didn't want him around. "I'll… be on my way then." He turned away before Keith could see just how much his comment had meant. It was probably a joke, anyway, but suddenly Lance wanted to be alone. He didn't see Keith look after him with a twinge of regret, which paved the way for the summer where Lance stopped looking to anyone.


	3. Chapter 3

**A/N: Switched up the points of view so I could experiment with angst. Leave a review, show it to your friends, if you want. I'm so happy you guys are actually reading this. It means a lot. I'll finish up the next chapter quick as I can.**

* * *

 _A hidden liar_

 _The Altean charcoal-eye_

 _Is not to be loved_

* * *

Keith hated walking with Lance. He didn't know what a conversation pause was, he talked nonstop at a near-shout, but Keith just couldn't bring himself to sit alone when Lance was calling for him at the cave's entrance. He'd go out with the intention to tell Lance off and somehow be persuaded to walk miles.

It was hard to admit, but Keith _did_ miss talking to people. He couldn't remember how long he'd been locking himself in the cave with its entrance too small for him to escape when the moon came out and the witch's curse showed itself.

He closed his eyes for a moment and allowed the memories to wash over him like a polluted tide as he watched the day fade into afternoon. He closed his eyes and breathed in.

The transformation he had to endure every night was not only painful but also a little humiliating. First, he had to strip before the moon rose so they didn't burst at the seams, so he had to spend a few unhappy moments before mind-splitting agony overtook him and he screamed and screamed as he swelled to almost half the cavern size and had to wait until the sun rose again before he could be human.

Those night hours were torturous. He was filled with rage and wanted to rip and bite and tear but no matter how hard he pushed his snout through the hole, he couldn't fit his body and his wings through the entrance, which was why he'd chosen the cave. His alchemists had tried everything, then he hurt them too and that was when he knew this couldn't go on.

He couldn't remember what he'd done to anger her. It may have been a squadron of his that wandered into her territory, it could have been his denouncing of her when she attacked a child, it could have been a lot, it could have been all of it, but it didn't matter. He wasn't the best prince. He had a short temper and, as the witch described, a lot of fire. So now he had to live with the cruelty of her joke, and blew fire whenever he opened his jaws.

The Altean charcoal-eye was supposed to only grow to about five metres in length and two metres tall. Keith, when he transformed, was six metres tall and fifteen metres long when he had his tail unfurled, roughly. He'd never been too bothered with measurements, but the cave was about that size and he fit pretty snug in there. It was uncomfortable, but it was the only way the villages around him weren't epitaphs.

Before the witch had stormed into his castle and incapacitated all his guard and laughed while she inflicted the curse, he'd lived a charmed life. His every whim was granted, which was mostly sparring with his guard and training with their captain, a war hero he'd promised the kingdom to should he ever be killed in battle, and still thought about quite often.

Keith remembered being unwary but also confused when the witch started chanting. By the time he'd realized what was going on and grabbed his sword, he was already on the ground, at her feet, screaming for the pain to stop and yelling for help to anyone, screaming unforgivable things at the witch. She only laughed and disappeared.

The rest of the night was one the kingdom refused to acknowledge. With nothing to stop him, Keith had soared through the skylights in his great hall and torched houses until the sun poked its head above the horizon like a sleepy child and tinted the clouds pink.

Then Keith, who was still in the air, fell onto a hut and brought the roof in, naked, covered in scrapes, and delirious. The general-captain had hushed it up and brought in alchemists from all over the continent for a cure. Three more days they'd kept Keith in a cage in the dungeons during the night so while he thrashed and howled and blew fire and woke up half the kingdom and gave the other half lasting nightmares, he did not kill anyone.

The alchemists had made no progress the night Keith escaped. One of the guards, in their haste to leave the dungeons before sunset, left the keys in a spot that no _human_ would have been able to reach. But, after sprouting scales and claws and swelling in size, Keith watched himself in mute horror, trapped somewhere inside his head, as a forked tongue slid out from his jaws and hooked the keys on the end of it.

It was the next morning that Keith realized he had injured the alchemists. None of them were killed, thank God, but after he had injured everyone, including the general-captain, he gathered his things and slipped away when no one was looking at him. Once upon a time he was alright with being looked at- he was royalty, after all. But after the disaster, all he got where distrustful glances, angry eyes or, in the alchemists' case, probing ogling. The last one wasn't so bad, he was desperate to get rid of the curse. He just had to find a way to do just that, until he gave up and decided it would be best for everyone if he just stayed by himself.

Then Lance showed up, and it was only downhill from there.

Keith had always liked storms. It was the day, so he was going to go out and let himself drown in the shattering drum-roll of thunder and let himself be blinded by the white-hot arcs of lightning striking the hills like arrows from the celestial bow of some angered god.

But, as he was buttoning his cloak and looking for his boots, some idiot wandered into a dark cave and flipped his very livable existence upside down, smacked it a few times, minced it, popped it in a savory stew and dumped the remains in a river.

Keith had been pondering this for days, but he still couldn't find Lance's motivation. There was no logical reason as to why he kept stopping by. If he was _that_ lonely, he could get a dog or something. It'd be easier on both of them, especially since Keith knew and Lance probably suspected there was no healthy way for their acquaintanceship to go on without one of them coming clean. Keith was well aware of his own secrets, but he believed Lance was hiding something too. Maybe it wasn't obvious, it was hiding in plain sight, like a knife tucked in the casual folds of a cloak or a fake jewel among a necklace.

There was one thing that was unmistakable, though. Keith's presence may not have affected Lance's life too much, a fact that wounded Keith's pride a bit, but now that Keith had allowed himself to be drawn back in by the ever-tempting fruit of peoples' company, there wasn't going to be much turning back from there. What was he going to make Lance do, forget him? Unlikely. Even more unlikely could he convince Lance to just leave him alone.

He wasn't ready for change. The last year of solitude had been fine. He was fine. The last thing he needed was a brown boy with blue eyes and a probably fake happy-go-lucky attitude to come waltzing in. The first encounter had shaken him enough, then Lance had to go and come after him every time he passed the cave.

Keith opened his eyes and found they were aching from being angled towards the sun, even with them shut. The memories that had been enveloping him, smothering his thoughts, receded like the tide. The sun was sinking towards the horizon, and Keith looked at it wistfully for probably the hundredth time, regretting how he'd never be able to watch the stars emerge again, to see the dark blue curtain fall over the sun's final act. He stood up, stretched, and turned his back to the light. Time to head inside.


	4. Chapter 4

**A/N: I don't really know what happened, but it's going to segway into some action. Finally, right? Next chapter up soon, probably. Review, favorite, follow, tattoo the name of this onto your body with goat's blood as ink or whatever. See y'all as soon as I dip further into my well of motivation.**

* * *

 _The summer sun shines bright_

 _But the messenger is blue_

 _Hope dashed on the rocks_

* * *

After Keith asked how he was going to get rid of Lance, Lance figured he would take care

of part of that himself.

The next time Lance had to pass Keith's cave entrance, he refused to look at it. There was no point in forcing him if he didn't, really didn't, want to go. Lance thought he was doing Keith a favor, giving him the option, and getting him to go outside because he was probably really lonely in that cave.

But… Lance guessed… he _wanted_ to be left alone? Who would want that?

Lance came from a big family, and being a messenger meant being around people almost twenty four hours a day. It was so good, being around people, absorbing some of their ideas and become closer as a unit.

Lance glanced back at the cave's entrance. Then he turned and walked away.

Keith saw the whole thing.

He waited for Lance to come to the cave and fish him out, but Lance passed by, glancing back once, for a split second. Keith didn't go after him. Something pulled him back: an instinct taught to him by what he'd seen as a young prince watching the diplomats and his parents chat from behind a corner. Dig in your heels and refuse to back down, no matter how wrong you are.

Still, Keith stared at the spot where Lance had glanced back at the cave. The absence was too big to ignore. Cursing himself, he grabbed his coat and ran after Lance.

Before Lance could see him, he slowed to a walk. Lance turned, but he didn't smile, and the lack of one of his signature wide grins was almost as noticeable as his absence before. "Oh, hey, Keith."

Keith fell into step beside himself for the tidal wave of words that was sure to come. But instead their conversation was bone dry and about as pleasant and friendly as the Great Salt Springs of Tyfin, which seared people alive who dared to walk across the seemingly innocent sandy expanse.

Lance barely looked at him, which should have been Keith's job. Keith wondered if _he_ should be the one to initiate the conversation, but quickly shook himself out of it. That was Lance's thing, he wouldn't intrude on that.

Let it be known that this is _not_ what Keith should have done. Keith put himself on hold, teetering on the edge of a precipice, waiting for Lance not only to respond but to engage, to initiate, to embark on the dark ocean that separated their voices, when instead Keith should have been the one to choke down his pride and initiated.

Lance was a little confused as to why Keith came after him, but didn't question it. He couldn't really bring himself to look at him. It was no wonder that he didn't like walking with Lance and just wanted to get rid of him. Or maybe he was looking into it too much.

They walked in silence.

Keith sighed a little and chanced a glance at Lance. He almost toppled.

Lance's eyes look like a corpse's, usually so alight with life they could pass for either the sun on the ocean or fire in a blacksmith's forge had about as much enthusiasm as… well… as much as Keith typically gave their conversations.

Guilt, hot and heavy like lead settled uncomfortable on Keith somewhere above his stomach but below his lungs. He knew he hadn't been exactly palling around with Lance, but Lance hid just how much hurt he was holding when Keith said he didn't want him around.

 _But_ whispered a voice in the back of his mind _but you didn't lead Lance on or anything like that. There's no reason for you to feel guilty._

There was some truth to that, Keith decided. It wasn't his fault. So why did he still feel so bad? The guilt wasn't dissipating like it should. Keith stared at the ground as silence stifled them. This was almost as bad the transformations. Lance looked for a second as though he might say something, but then gave a little shaking of his head like he was waterlogged and they kept walking.

It took Keith an embarrassingly long time to realize Lance had stopped. He looked back, surprised, and realized Lance was standing under the archway to a village. Keith had just walked in. Lance looked puzzled but then a cold and resigned determination passed over his face like a raven had just flown overhead, casting its shadow over his head.

"This is usually where you stop."

Keith pursed his lips. He didn't know what was going on with Lance, but there wasn't any need to sound so… cold. It was so unlike him to do anything like this, but a small gnarled part of him breathed in relief. Keith was free to go.

"Goodbye, Lance," was the only thing Keith said to him that day.

The silence surrounding Keith as he walked by himself was comfortable, at last, because there was no uncertainty in how he felt when he was alone, away from other people and wasn't the sunset beautiful…

Keith's eyes widened and hands- shaking- went into his hair like he was trying to make sure he was still human. He broke into a run. The cave, the cave, he needed to get into the cave. He'd been so focused on Lance he hadn't even realized and now people were going to suffer if he didn't make it back.

Keith's feet barely touched the ground as he started to feel the first pains of transformation. The cave was just over this hill, if he could just scramble in… this is what he got for trying to be friendly or whatever that was to Lance and now he was reaping the rewards of his mistakes.

 _If this is the reward for human interaction,_ said the small voice in Keith's head that so annoyed him _Then there isn't any need for it at all._

 _Shut up,_ he told it.

Then the pains raced up his chest and over and over his skull, shrieking and POUNDING LOUDER AND LOUDER AND


	5. Chapter 5

**A/N: Yeaaahhh. Here it is. Please leave a review or follow or favorite, share it with your friends, blog about it, let people know. I just... want to share this. I love y'all, and I'd put in a little heart thing but I'm using a European keyboard and I don't know if it has the lil symbols I need for it. So yeah.**

* * *

 _The beast has escaped_

 _From the prison it has built_

 _He doesn't know that_

* * *

Back at the castle, Lance decided to make the most of his free time so, instead of staring out the window, he put on his most winning smirk and left the male servants' quarters to go find someone pretty and make them blush.

The castle never ceased to amaze him of its grandeur. He caught a quick glimpse of the great hall where prince Shiro and princess Allura sat near each other on their alternating gold and silver thrones, whispering to each other. Coran, Allura's advisor, stood attentively at her side, trying hard not to look furious that Allura was in close quarters with another man. Light streamed in over the lush carpets, tinted by the stained glass windows and cut off in some places by statues of lions whose eyes seemed to follow whoever walked in.

Ordinarily, Lance would have hovered near the doorway, looking at Allura until Coran made him leave, but for some reason he just wasn't into it today. Maybe he'd come back later to woo her, but he was ready to try someone a little easier than the crown princess of his kingdom. He passed a cute maid polishing the pewter, and gave her a wink, and of course she blushed and giggled a little bit, but that was too easy. Lance ducked into a small hallway, undecorated because it wasn't for royalty, and followed a tight and twisting staircase down to where the castle's dungeons and kitchen and who knows what else.

The stairs stopped and all that was left was a large corridor. _One of these doors leads to the kitchen_ he thought _but I'm not really hungry. And I don't really want to see any prisoners, either._

One door caught his eyes. A big oak thing embossed with a gold seal of some leaves and rocks and words in a language he didn't recognize it. He wondered vaguely where it went, but it was too late to come to a logical decision because he just pushed the door open. Immediately he clapped his hand over his nose.

"Quiznak! What _is_ this?" he coughed, trying to wave away the smell. Through his watery eyes he could see two figures, one big and hulking, dark and a band tied around his close-cropped hair, the other small and sprightly whose hair sprung messily in . "Who are you?"

Neither of them answered or looked at him, but the small one held up a finger in his direction, the universal sign for _just a moment._ The tall, big one was holding a dropper and a single drop of some shining heliotrope-colored liquid had scarcely touched the surface of a bowl full of what looked like molten silver when the bowl shattered as the liquid fairly exploded and singed the hair of the small, lighter one, who immediately scribbled something onto a roll of parchment that was now a bit blackened around the edges.

The larger one turned towards him, frowning. "Who're you?"

Lance raised his eyebrows. "Name's Lance… and what just happened?"

The smaller one turned towards him. "Doesn't matter. Didn't work, anyway. Yet. I'm Pidge."

The larger one smiled. "I'm Hunk."

Lance moved to shake their hands, then realized their hands were blackened and covered with soot. "Right. I'll just…" He tried to turn towards the door, then something occurred to him. He whirled back around, realization hitting him. "You're the castle alchemists?"

Pidge's eyes brightened. "That's us! We're at the forefront of advancements for the kingdom. We're more important than the guard and all of that noise. We _actually_ make a difference."

Hunk smiled a little. "She doesn't really hate the guard all that much or anything." Behind him, Pidge sniffed.

Lance rubbed the back of his neck. "So you guys brew potions?"

Pidge laughed. "Those are _witches_ uh…. What's your name again?"

"Lance."

"... Lance. And magic is just science layered with hand gestures, anyway. But… sure, we brew potions. Need something?"

Lance shook his head. "No, I'm not looking for a roofie or poison or _essence of insanity_ or anything."

"Love potion?" Pidge raised her eyebrows and smirked.

"Woah, woah, woah," said Lance, laughing. "My mother already blessed me with all the love equipment I need." He ran a hand through his hair.

"Uh huh. And how's that working out for you?" asked Hunk.

Lance glared at him, then tried to bounce back from that. Why did he feel so weird? Then he realized… that was the first time he'd laughed in weeks, probably since summer began. What was up with that? No wonder Keith didn't want to see him- who wanted to hang out with someone who never smiled?

"You okay?" asked Hunk, noticing Lance's sudden trip to somewhere just beyond the walls of the room. Lance blinked a couple times, then slowly, slowly smiled. Pidge and Hunk glanced at each other, confused. Lance coughed and tried to grin normally and found his face oddly stiff. He rocked back and forth on his heels and whistled a little.

Pidge and Hunk looked a little less puzzled but the atmosphere had changed. Lance coughed. "So… what else do you do?"

Hunk was about to respond when a loud clanging came tumbling down the stairs. They all looked up. Pidge's shoulders tensed. "The alarm bell…"

Lance looked out a small window and realized how dark it was. "Woah… what do you think's going on?"

Pidge and Hunk were already grabbing their things, frantically cramming battered books and tattered yellow notes into bags and grabbing equipment. They took off towards the door and Lance followed. "Hey! What's going on?"

Hunk yelled over his shoulder "That's the alarm bell! We've got to get into the safe-rooms!"

"What? Why?" Lance fought to be heard over the loud clanging of the castle's bell tower.

Pidge yelled over her shoulder "Who knows? I can't remember the last time it rung."

Lance thanked his lucky stars he wasn't delivering a message when the bell was sounded. Whatever it was must be outside… maybe a tribe of wild witches that wandered too close for comfort… or some beast that had attacked a farm or something.

Hunk, who was leading the group, threw open the door to the main hallway, where people were scattered and sprinting towards the Great Hall. Lance followed, bewildered, wondering what could be going on.

"Is the whole kingdom under this protocol?" he asked Pidge, half-yelling as the crowd pushed on the three of them, everyone scrambling to get to what looked like a small and secret door down a little passageway behind the thrones.

"Yeah!" she yelled, trying to face him. "Guards will be rounding up everyone inside the kingdom now."

 _Everyone inside the kingdom…_ Lance's eyes widened in horror. _Keith would have no idea what was going on._

Lance turned and started fighting against the crowd, trying to get through the sea of jabbing elbows and frantic cries. Hunk yelled after him "Lance! Where are you going?!" but he didn't stop. Keith would have no idea something was going on… he would have no warning… and no guards knew where he was.

Lance broke free of the crowd and gasped. He pushed his way through a small side door leading out to the courtyard and held his hand up over his eyes, temporarily blinded. Orange and red light was dancing over roofs of the town. Sunlight? His eyes cleared, and he looked up.

Something huge, dark and scaly was torching the village. It was in the air, flying like a fish swims through water on enormous bat wings. Lance's jaw dropped.

"DRAGON!" shouted someone in the town from nearby, which Lance thought was kind of obvious.

Lance whirled and took off towards the mountain route, hurdling over fallen log and checking over his shoulder every so often to gape in terror at the enormous beast roaring and blowing flames over the town.

 _What is it doing so close to humans?_ Lance thought. He assumed all the dragons that humans hadn't driven away just stayed away. They weren't stupid things. He risked another glance over his shoulder. The huge thing had perched on a clock tower and was surveying the damage, its huge tail swishing as it threw its head back, exposing its slightly lighter underside and roared. Even from that distance the sound threw vibrations around in Lance's chest and raw fear raced up and down his spine, shrieking over his shoulder and around his temples. Lance stopped, stupidly, and clutched his head, trying to block out the noise, falling to his knees. Lance scrambled to his feet and stumbled as fast as he could in Keith's cave's direction. There was no way he'd be safe from the dragon in there, would he?

He spotted the entrance up ahead, and thought blearily _This was a stupid idea. Of course he knows there's a dragon out. I put myself in danger for nothing._

Lance threw himself into the cave, then turned and looked back out to the dragon. It was leaving the town, slinking towards the direction he was in, leaping deftly, catlike, from rooftop to rooftop. Lance watched, mesmerized, as the dragon soared into the air like some twisted malevolent angel, until he swore the dragon's gaze found his eyes. Lance whirled around and collided with the cave wall. Blood burst from his forehead and wounded and bloody and blind he turned and fled into the safety of the cavern.

He ripped one of his sleeves and held the fabric to his head, trying to staunch the flow of blood. "KEITH!" he yelled, spinning around the cavern. Keith wasn't there. Why… wasn't he there? Something dark and metallic was covering one of his eyes and dripping over his mouth and it tasted like iron. That was the last thing he remembered before he woke up.


	6. Chapter 6

**A/N: So, sorry this took so long. But the story's progressing and stuff. I guess there's a cliffhanger? Sorry about that. Leave an angry review if you're** ** _really_** **mad and I'll apologize to you personally if that helps. Hugs and Kisses.**

* * *

 _Misdirected fear_

 _Grab your friends and family_

 _Hold tight all your dears_

* * *

"Lance? Lance?"

 _Am I dead?_

"Lance, please, wake up."

 _If I'm dead… why does my head hurt so much?_

Lance opened his eyes, only to find blurs. He blinked a few times, trying to clear away the fuzzy spots in his vision, and a face took focus, dark-haired and kind of angelic.

"Lance?" it asked, brow scrunching in concern.

"Oh," said Lance softly. "I _am_ dead."

The head drew back. "What?"

Farther from him, Lance saw it clearly. "Keith? Keith!" Lance sat up, then immediately regretted it. His head felt like it was underwater, but the rest of his body wasn't. He put his hand up to feel it and found a stiff headwrap of bandages. He was laying on Keith's little cot, with Keith standing over him, holding a small flask.

Seeing Lance's confusion, Keith explained. "I came back in here to find you lying in a pretty good-sized pool of blood. Why are you here?" He offered Lance the flask and Lance took a sip of what was, mercifully, fresh water.

The events of last night hit Lance full-force. He shot back up again, ignoring the pain and dizziness in his head. "There was a dragon! A huge real-life fire-breathing lizard! They were ringing the alarm bell but you weren't close enough to hear… but it was stupid of me," Lance said, rubbing the back of his neck. "You totally could've seen… wait… where were you?"

Keith looked uncomfortable. "What do you mean?"

Lance furrowed his brow. "There was a dragon outside… a giant, bloodthirsty…"

"Oh!" said Keith. "I was getting water… at the time. When I saw it, then I ran back here."

"Oh," said Lance. "Well, I can't believe I ran up here… I wasn't thinking." He laughed. "I should leave… people are probably gonna ask about the bandages." He looked at Keith and smiled. "Thanks for that, by the way."

Keith nodded. "Mhmm. No problem. Yeah, you _should_ probably leave and I'll… see you."

Lance stood up shakily and started to walk towards the door, glancing fondly at the little spring that bubbled and gurgled into Keith's cave near the door. It was almost like a small fountain, placed there on purpose like the fountains in the castle gardens Lance stopped dead in his tracks, eyes widening and mind racing. He stiffened.

"Lance?" asked Keith cautiously.

Lance turned to face him.

"What's wrong?" He made to get up. "Is it your head?"

"You said you were out getting water…" said Lance slowly. "Last night… when the dragon attacked. But… you have a spring right here. Why… why were you?"

Keith paled. "I…"

Lance started to walk slowly towards him. "Living here in a cave all alone… and vanishing when a dragon appears…"

Lance may be dense sometimes emotionally, but he couldn't miss the way Keith slowly shifted into a defensive stance, spreading his feet out a little and crouching the tiniest bit, ready to strike. "You're raving, Lance. You should get some rest. It's the head wound."

"No, it's not," said Lance. "Well, I mean, _maybe_ a _little_ bit of it is the head wound. But you lied to me about where you were… that can't be right. You have a spring here."

"Lance, please get out. You're not thinking straight. You can come back once you're healed."

Lance glared at him. "What's your deal? You come back here and patch me up and act all nice and now you're making me walk back alone! What if… I fall? And what if the wound reopens? Why are you doing this? And why did you lie to me? If it's embarrassing, you could've just…"

Keith laughed, and Lance froze. Keith laughed just like a kid- he threw his head back and grabbed his stomach in such a childish way Lance was immediately disarmed. "I'd rather you not ask," said Keith, still smirking, eyebrow quirked. "Fine, then. I'll walk your town gates, then I'm gone."

Lance smiled. He could probe Keith later, more subtly, when he was walking with him.

Keith fed Lance lies like a toddler got spoon-fed by its mother. And Lance swallowed them all down easily. Keith had just panicked when he said he was getting water, in reality he was out just taking a walk. Well, except the one.

"Why did you have to lie to me?" Lance had asked. The sun was beginning to set and Keith's palms broke out in a sweat. Lance's eyebrows were scrunched closer in concern, and it was getting harder to look at him because the sun was burning Keith's eyes as it went down behind Lance's head, making his hair look like light and framing him in a halo like a saint.

Keith was caught off guard for a second. It was just a second, but in that second, Keith stumbled over his own feet as he realized that Lance's eyes, which he didn't spend a lot of time looking at, were the exact blue of the sky behind him, even tingeing gold towards his pupils like the sun was bleaching the sky. In that fraction of a moment, Lance matched the scenery behind him exactly, mountains and the ocean in the great distance and the town slightly east of him, and Keith felt something in his chest clench and unclench rapidly, a feeling he would have described as terrible if he didn't enjoy it so much.

What _was_ this?

"Keith?"

Lance's voice snapped him out of it, Keith regained his balance, and he told Lance that he just didn't know what to say, he didn't want Lance to know he was just trying to relax. Lance frowned at that but he let Keith leave when the gate of the town was in sight. Lance disappeared into the walls and Keith looked after him, arms folded.

Something winked in his eye and he squinted. The sun was going down. What was the matter with him, getting so absorbed with Lance he was being irresponsible.

He turned and walked away, unable to notice Lance looking at him from behind a pillar. He also missed how Lance shuffled his feet, bit his lip in indecision, then decided to himself he was going to follow Keith back and try to catch him in the lie and find him in the truth.


	7. Chapter 7

A/N: Heyyyy. I am so sorry. This chapter is super short and not much happens because until yesterday I have been absolutely swamped by exams, but now the term is over and I can work on the next chapter every day! I am so sorry for keeping y'all waiting. The chapter after this, I PROMISE, will be out before the end of the year. Love and Happy Holidays!

* * *

Reckless decisions

And being caught in your lies

Leads to nothing good

* * *

Lance was great at sneaking.

Mama never caught him when he snuck cookies before dinnertime as a child- he was caught later as Lance was unable to control himself and his mother found the cookie jar significantly lighter than before, but she was never actually able to catch him hand in the jar. He'd been honing his technique too, as he left the house at night to meet up with his friends and chat up girls without his parents' permission. He'd been caught once during that time, but that was only because the girl he was sneaking out to meet was making noise outside his window so he could come down and his parents heard.

Keith seemed pretty wrapped up is his own thoughts, something Lance took advantage of. Keith was, in fact, thinking about Lance and how walking with him was making him irresponsible. If an outsider had seen this, Lance sneaking behind Keith while Keith daydreamed about him but neither allowed themselves to believe that they may or may not have some sort of future relationship, they would repeatedly slam their head into a wall in frustration because these two would not see what was right in front of their eyes.

Keith, hands in the pockets of his cloak and head down, was completely unaware of Lance who was about thirty meters behind him. Although he may not have perceived him, his head was full of Lance and a few floating question marks as well.

Why did Lance have to be like this? Why did he have to be like this? The last time he let Lance get into his head he couldn't make into the cave in time. If Lance wasn't so pushy- but no, that wasn't right. Lance had only been pushy at the beginning of their… relationship. Relationship? Did they have one of those? Keith frowned and thought hard. They were definitely connected… did that qualify? What were the qualifications, if there were? They definitely weren't _strangers…_ but was he a friend? Keith stopped dead in his tracks. He didn't sign up for any _friendship._

Lance, behind him, tilted his head like a puzzled puppy, then dove deftly behind an inconspicuous cluster of small boulders. Keith sighed, looked up, then looked around distractedly. The sun kept sinking and Keith shook his head like he was waterlogged and took off again, going a bit faster. Lance poked his head up from the boulders, narrowed his eyes, and followed.

They were nearing the cave, Lance knew it. So when Keith ducked behind the boulders as Lance watched from a very safe distance, he had a brief moment to consider his actions. Thoughts hadn't really been… flowing as Lance followed Keith up the mountain. When he focused really hard, that tended to happen. So now, as he rocked back and forth on his metaphorical heels looking down into a big gorge and winding river of invading Keith's privacy, he hesitated.

Why was he doing this? Why had Keith lied? If it was secretive and/or disgusting, did he really want to know? On the other hand, Keith could have just said it was private. But still…

No one cuts themselves off from other people on purpose, at least at first. That meant Keith had had to been someone before he left whatever he had behind to come and live in the cave. That sounded awful, and Lance, clenching his jaw, was determined to make sure that Keith was going to live a happy life surrounded by friends and family, not shut up in a natural, rocky prison all up in his lonesome. He took a steadying breath, hoped no one would miss him back at the castle for a while, and started off towards the cave.

Sunlight pierced his eye, and Lance turned. The sun was halfway down over the ocean, and Lance stood there for a second. Transfixed, spellbound, speechless. Another reason for Keith to leave the cave- where there are sunsets there is beauty and hope and light and warmth and goodness. Lance spun around and headed in.

* * *

As he made his way to the boulder-gate thing and stared into the blackness and uncertainty of Keith's cave entrance, the sky suddenly went dark, like a man in the sky had suddenly extinguished his lantern. The sun had finally slipped under the ocean beyond and A few stars were winking and blinking their way into the vast blue canvas that was taking centerstage. Lance wanted to smile at the things, but something was off. Something wasn't right. Every hair he had seemed to be on edge, and his spine was tingling like an icy hand was making its way down his back.

Lance looked into the darkness and reconsidered, and wondered what could trigger every one of his instincts like this- his body was screaming to not go in and for a second he believed it.

Then an unholy shriek ripped through the night air and Lance stopped thinking.

 _Keith was in there with something._

Lance didn't hesitate any longer. He dove into the blackness, and cursed his lack of light.

"Keith!"

He clamped a hand over his mouth. Now that thing… whatever it was, he couldn't see it, had probably heard him and he had lost whatever element of surprise he might've possessed before. He stumbled a little but continued forward through the small hallway-like passageway before he entered the surprisingly large cavern.

He was just about to go into the cavern, he knew it. Every nerve in his body was tingling, and his palms were sweating as he thought he heard something, some monster, something enormous breathing raggedly in the darkness.

Lance stepped forward, knees shaking. He wished he had some sort of weapon. Then he remembered.

Keith had that little shelf near his cot, and on it was an iron pan. That might be enough, but he'd have to sprint. Then he'd need to find Keith. Briefly, Lance allowed himself a glorious daydream, after the beast was slayed, Keith would tumble over himself to thank Lance, asking for some way he could possibly repay him.

Lance quickly shook himself out of it. He needed to get to the frying pan.

He could hear the breathing, moist and venomous. _There's no time for this._ Whatever was in there had to be enormous. _And it also had Keith._ Keith… it had Keith! _Just GO!_

Lance sprinted into the dark, arms out and blind. Fumbling, scraping his hands in frantic search for the cold handle of the frying pan. Then his fingers barely touched it and he latched on, holding it like a shield in front of his face to shield him from that thing…

That thing….

Its head was tilted in confusion, and maybe amusement, at Lance's terrible idea. Lance gaped at it in horror over the edge of the frying pan and felt his knees shake. He was about to crumple. That monster… that beast… that was the one from the sky last night.

"Get back!" Lance swung the pan. Why did his voice sound so high?

"Where's Keith?" Why was he squeaking?

Lance tried looking into the thing's eyes and frowned in confusion. It was bobbing back and forth like it couldn't decide whether or not to eat him. Lance's palms were sweaty and slipping on the pan.

"Keith! Keith! Where are you?" He yelled, looking around. He took a step back.

The dragon's breath was like a furnace, and its eyes blazed like embers. Lance backed up against the cave wall as the dragon came closer, sniffing at him.

"Keith!"


	8. Sorry

_Reins come into place_

 _When there is a friend at stake_

 _Pray it comes again_

* * *

Whenever Keith transformed, the only thing he could compare being inside his own head was watching someone through a dirty window. He could barely see what was going on, and what he did see he didn't really like.

The loss of control is terrible, and Keith hated that. It was the worst part of the entire quiznaking experience- not being able to doing anything but watch helplessly as things fuzzily unfolded before him.

Keith sighed and started to strip. The sun was down, and he only had precious minutes before he swelled in size and had to succumb to the witch's awful curse.

The transformation went as usual, which is to say, it was as horribly painful as every other time. But after it was done, Keith felt himself settle down, with no way to get out. When he'd first moved into the cave, he would constantly try to push himself through but it never worked- and now he guessed that his second self had just given up trying. He curled up on himself and Keith, relieved, tried to relax.

As a dragon, though, his senses were dialed up to eleven, and he smelled the presence of another person, just outside the entrance.

 _Oh, no. No no no no no. Go away!_

The scent kept getting closer and he felt himself lean forward, extend his neck. His second self seemed as confused as he was.

He could hear it now, too. The shallow breathing of this _idiot._

There was a flash of movement.

 _Did someone just… run… in front of a dragon's face? Who would be stupid enough to…_

The person turned, clutching Keith's frying pan.

 _Lance? Lance! No!_

His second self leaned forward, but for the first time, Keith could feel himself in the body of himself… and he pulled back. He felt himself hesitate a little, but not much.

"Get back!" Lance squeaked, brandishing the pot.

If Keith could roll his eyes, he would have. This idiot was going to get himself killed. His second self started moving forward again and Keith tried again, trying to force his mind into his body, trying and _trying and getting there and_ being pushed out again. He wasn't moving back, but he wasn't moving forward either.

"Where's Keith?"

Keith tried again, looking at his claws were starting to inch towards Lance's legs and focussing on pulling… them… back.

It was… working?

Something tingled in Keith's mind and suddenly he found he could feel a tiny bit in his claws and snout. He would've gasped if he had more control of himself. He could feel… the cold draft of the cave and the slight slight warm of Lance in his snout as Lance shook in terror.

 _How stupid_ was _this kid?_

And yet… there was something about him that was letting Keith control himself, somehow… something about him that was stabilising Keith. Keith wished that he'd been around sooner- he could've helped him, he could've stopped him from getting out and terrorizing the townspeople...

"Keith! Keith! Where are you?" Lance looked around, then back at the him. Keith looked back at Lance, into his horrified eyes that shone with pure fear, and then suddenly he was grappling with control again, as Lance looked at him full of terror and hatred.

"Keith!"

 _Just get out, you idiot!_

Keith was going forward again, and Lance was pressed all the way against the wall.

 _No, no, no, no! Stop it!_

Keith was slipping again, he was grappling with himself and losing… but he would _never_ ever _ever_ forgive himself if he let the only person who was kind to him die at his own doing.

Keith felt himself stop dead.

Lance's chest was heaving in panic, but he managed to look confused as the dragon stopped moving and just stared at him.

"Where's… where's Keith?"

Keith felt his consciousness extend to the tips of the claws that rested, ready to strike, on the cold, damp cave floor. His entire self was tingling with something he dimly recognized… something that was allowing him to finally care enough to control himself- stronger than guilt, stronger than hatred or shame or embarrassment that usually filled him when he wasn't human.

As he looked at Lance, he recognized fondness.

Hey y'all. I'm really really sorry, but I dunno if I can finish this. I've been kind of losing steam and stuff, and I know, I know that is none of your guys' faults or anything, it's just the idea kind of died. But if you want to follow me and read more, I'm going to move myself to Archive of Our Own, with more Voltron stuff. My username is redwater


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